Nasty water unwelcome here

Water quality is degraded on several Arkansas waterways right now, and that’s unacceptable in a place we call The Natural State. We are aware of deteriorating water quality on the Buffalo National River, which was highlighted in recent coverage by Emily Walkenhorst in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. The White River below Beaver Dam — the Beaver Tailwater — also is stressed because of excessive water temperatures and low dissolved oxygen. The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality recently listed the Buffalo River and its tributary, Big Creek, as impaired because of excessive levels of water-borne pathogens. The National Park Service, which administers the Buffalo National River, requested that Mill Creek and Bear Creek also be listed as impaired because of high levels of E. coli bacteria. Spectators blame the high pathogen load on a large hog farm situated on Big Creek about 6 miles above its confluence with the Buffalo. The hog farm probably is a factor, judging from similar experiences with the swine-farming industry in North Carolina. In 1997, there were 7 million hogs in confined feeding operations in North Carolina. A hog produces up to four times the waste of an average human, and the manure and urine are stored in deep earthen pits, or lagoons. The nitrogen-rich liquid in the pits is sprayed over fields for fertilizer. The lagoons are said to be effective containers for the waste because the sludge supposedly settles to the bottom and forms an impermeable seal, even in the porous sandy soils of eastern… [Read full story]